Posts I've Made

On our 2003-plate the lighting switch has a parking light position anticlockwise from off. You have to push the knob in slightly to select it. This puts the side and tail lights on without the number plate lights and doesn't activate the chime. It's quite easy to turn the control past OFF to this position if you're not aware of it and you happen to be applying enough pressure to the knob. Maybe that's what caught Malcolm's wife out. It definitely chimes in the normal sidelight position.

I think the adjustment should be made with the control set on the highest setting and a driver in the car. This way the control can always bring the beams down to compensate for a fully-loaded rear. It will never be necessary to raise the beams above the setting for an empty car plus driver.

From your original post you implied it did and that was why you got the leak-off test done . . . . .

03 1.8 tdci.......starts ok (so far) but if I don't hold the revs to about 3ish it'll cut out, tons of smoke (see title) then after about 5 mins clears and idles fine and if I'm out all the stop starting, it's fine. I got a leak test this afternoon and 4 injectors are fine with hardly leakage at all after about 2 mins so it's not them (as I thought it was)

I don't know where the leak-off pipes return fuel to the system or where the lift pump is located. As usual the Haynes manual omits this useful information. Maybe one of the more knowledgeable members can help with this. I was under the impression it was returned directly to the tank but if it is returned upstream of the lift pump then it's possible that air could get in via a leak in the return pipework and if this was not securely plugged during the test that could explain why you needed to top-up the filter. Without knowledge of the plumbing, though, that's just guesswork.

Yes, the o2 (oxygen) sensor is also called a Lambda sensor. It measures the amount of oxygen in the exhaust gases and the signal is used by the ECU to adjust the air/fuel ratio. A second one after the catalytic converter allows the ECU to do a comparison to detect if the cat is working efficiently. Sensor 1 will be the one you identified poking through the manifold shield.

The light won't give any indication of the state of the glowplugs. You need to disconnect the wiring and do a resistance check. I replaced the plugs in our 1.8TDCi, similar age to yours and done about 89,000 miles at the time. When I tested the plugs I took out three were open-circuit and the fourth was high-resistance.

The glowplug light on ours goes out in under a second, summer or winter, but I found by connecting a lamp across the supply they actually stay on for about 5 seconds. I have read that in really cold conditions they may stay on for a while longer after the engine is started to help warm-up but I haven't tested this.

It does sound as if yours might be getting air in the system when it stands overnight.